Auto Deploy cmdlets are implemented as Microsoft PowerShell cmdlets and included in vSphere PowerCLI. Users of Auto Deploy cmdlets can take advantage of all PowerCLI features.

Experienced PowerShell users can use Auto Deploy cmdlets just like other PowerShell cmdlets. If you are new to PowerShell and PowerCLI, the following tips might be helpful.

You can type cmdlets, parameters, and parameter values in the PowerCLI shell.

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Get help for any cmdlet by running Get-Help cmdlet_name.

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Remember that PowerShell is not case sensitive.

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Use tab completion for cmdlet names and parameter names.

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Format any variable and cmdlet output by using Format-List or Format-Table or their short forms fl or ft. See Get-Help Format-List.

Passing Parameters by Name

You can pass in parameters by name in most cases and surround parameter values that contain spaces or special characters with double quotes.

Copy-DeployRule -DeployRule testrule -ReplaceItem MyNewProfile

Most examples in the documentation pass in parameters by name.

Passing Parameters as Objects

You can pass parameters as objects if you want to do scripting and automation. Passing in parameters as objects is useful with cmdlets that return multiple objects and with cmdlets that return a single object. Consider the following example.

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Bind the object that encapsulates rule set compliance information for a host to a variable.

$tr = Test-DeployRuleSetCompliance MyEsxi42

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Display the itemlist property of the object to see the difference between what is in the rule set and what the host is currently using.

$tr.itemlist

3

Remediate the host to use the revised rule set by passing the object to a call to Repair-DeployRuleSetCompliance.

Repair-DeployRuleSetCompliance $tr

The example remediates the host the next time you boot the host.

Setting Properties to Support Remote Signing

For security reasons, Windows PowerShell supports an execution policy feature. It determines whether scripts are allowed to run and whether they must be digitally signed. By default, the execution policy is set to Restricted, which is the most secure policy. If you want to run scripts or load configuration files, you can change the execution policy by using the Set-ExecutionPolicy cmdlet. To do this, type the following in the vSphere PowerCLI console window.

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

If the command is successful, you can run scripts and load configuration files. For more information about the execution policy and digital signing in Windows PowerShell, use the following command.